Draft Report For CPUC Says NEM Will Cost Over $1B Per Year By ...: A majority of the customers who have instal...

A majority of the customers who have installed solar power in the service areas of California's public utilities have subscribed to net energy metering (NEM), and the policy is expected to cost more than $1 billion a year by 2020, says a draft report commissioned by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). In the report's cost-benefit analysis, NEM policies create a cost shift from NEM customers to other customers as utilities adjust their rates to compensate for the shortfall. The report, which was prepared by Energy and Environmental Economics Inc., analyzes the costs and benefits of NEM according to actual installed capacity at the end of 2012, which was about 1.3 GW; projected capacity with full participation in the California Solar Initiative (CSI), totaling 2.9 GW; and the capacity needed to reach the 5% net metering cap, forecast to be 5.57 GW in 2020. The...